‘Badly understaffed’ Park Police assaulted by ‘mob of thousands,’ pelted with poop at pro-Hamas riot in DC: union chief

It was a s–tshow.

US Park Police were “alone” and “understaffed” while being “assaulted by a mob of thousands” of pro-Hamas rioters in Washington, DC , on Wednesday — some of whom even pelted officers with poop, according to the force’s union chief.

Park Police Fraternal Order of Police chairman Kenneth Spencer told The Post in an interview a day after the unhinged riot that just 29 of his officers had faced down the terrorist-sympathizing mob outside Union Station — which is just blocks from the Capitol.

“We were primarily alone,” said Spencer, a 15-year veteran who revealed that years of “empty promises” to beef up the agency’s shoestring budget have gone unfulfilled by Congress and the Interior Department, which primarily deals with the nation’s rural national parks rather than civil unrest in big cities.

“Especially in the DC area, everybody’s so understaffed just like we are,” he explained. “We have a huge mission. We’re the agency that protects First Amendment rights when people come to visit DC.”

But his officers are also “protecting major soft targets, terrorist targets in Washington, DC, New York and San Francisco,” despite his force falling under the non-law enforcement agencies of the Interior and the National Park Service.

“If you remember in 2020, we were the agency that was in front of the White House, and we had 52 officers injured over those riots,” Spencer recalled of the demonstrations after the death of George Floyd.

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“We held the line and everything, but we were so badly understaffed then,” he added, noting there had been budgetary cuts in the intervening years. “We have fewer officers now … We’ve just been neglected.”

Rioters tagged monuments with graffiti messages such as “Hamas is coming” and tore down US flags, burning and trying to replace them with Palestinian banners in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

During his speech, the Israeli leader mocked Ivy League university protesters and other anti-Israel demonstrators for playing into the hands of Iran’s terrorist proxies — noting that some have received direct funding to do so.

“When the tyrants of Tehran, who hang gays from cranes and murder women for not covering their hair, are praising, promoting and funding you — you have officially become Iran’s useful idiots,” Netanyahu thundered.

Other DC rioters manhandled the outnumbered Park Police officers, while others started throwing objects that had “a very strong smell of feces” but never struck anyone, according to Spencer.

Just 10 were arrested, an agency spokesperson confirmed, with two occuring away from the clash at Columbus Circle outside the train station, while another nine were taken into custody by DC police.

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House National Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) sent a letter to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Thursday, urging the agency to “immediately address the USPP’s requests and provide additional officers and support.”

“I don’t see how you could classify that as a peaceful protest, but if the Park Police only had 29 officers there to deal with that crowd, I would say they did a remarkable job of keeping things under control as well as they did,” Westerman told The Post.

A National Park Service spokesperson said that “no resource requests” had been made or declined before the demonstration.

Westerman added that the House Oversight Committee was weighing an investigation into the riot and any potential ties to foreign terror groups, before taking a swipe at Democrats — including Vice President Kamala Harris — for enabling years of destructive demonstrations.

“It’s way too little, too late for them to come out and condemn things,” he said.

Harris condemned the “despicable acts by unpatriotic protestors and dangerous hate-fueled rhetoric” of the Union Station riot in a statement on Thursday morning.

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The GOP committee chairman, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and others trekked out to Union Station after dark to put the US flags back on the poles, which were replaced the following morning.

“Some of the national icons and the property, burning the flags, everything that we’re supposed to do and protect — we weren’t able to effectively do it,” Spencer lamented.

“It’s not the boots on the ground, it’s not their fault,” he clarified. “I’ve done everything in my power to address this with Congress, DOI, [National] Park Service, even the White House. Nothing’s been done.”

“If 2020 were to happen again in front of the White House or in front of the Capitol or the Lincoln Memorial — anywhere downtown in Washington, DC — we are not going to be able to complete our mission,” Spencer warned. “It’s not sustainable.”

The Metropolitan Police Department charged five people with crowding, obstructing or incommoding for blocking the flow of traffic near the Capitol, including Chloe Moussa, 22, Lance Rami Farouk Lokas, Page Thorin, 24, Anam Hussain, 23, and Aiya Bettinger, 20.

All except Thorin and Hussain hailed from states outside the DC metro region including Florida, North Carolina and Hawaii.

Gustave Kerndt, of Santa Monica, Calif; Ablante Eyob, of Suitland, Md; and Kevin Ramirez were arrested and charged for crossing a police line. Ramirez was also hit with the charge of assaulting a police officer at Columbus Circle as was a 15-year-old minor from Ohio.

US Capitol Police also coordinated with the Park Police but made no arrests at Union Station.

Six people who disrupted Netanyahu’s speech were taken into custody by Capitol Police: Michael Levy, 41, Carmit Palty Katzir, 45, Gil Dickmann, 32, Leat Ruben, 37, Alon Gat, 37, and Shahar Mor, 52.

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